Tag: engagement

I thought I would document our life the past few months since I haven’t blogged in almost a year–

We found out we had another little blessing on its way on New Years Day after mass for the Solemnity of Mary’s Motherhood. Seton’s behavior during that mass was the worst EVER. TO. THIS. DAY. She screamed THE WHOLE TIME. I actually cried afterward and had a heavy moment of thinking, “I have no idea how to be a mother.” Then, I peed on a stick.

A terrible morning turned into one of the best days of my life.

My pregnancy was great with a couple of hiccups. I had heavy bleeding in the first trimester with that icky flu feeling that left me permanently on the couch.

In my second trimester, I was in a car accident that totaled my car (hello, new minivan).

And in my third trimester, I had a bad sinus infection that spread to my jaw. I went five days without being able to chew food.

The little bumps in the road made me a little more nervous and a little more sleep deprived in pregnancy, but also so grateful just to BE pregnant and have to opportunity to be a mom.

And so Rosalie Clare Hiatt joined our family on September 12. I prepared for my birthing experience with hypnobirthing which I highly recommend. I LOVED it! Rosalie’s birth was so calm and peaceful, just like she is to this day. (maybe I will write about it one day on here?)

My mom came to town to help out with Seton. I am so glad she was here–she kept my mind off things pre labor, took care of Seton when Davey and I were in the hospital, and cooked and cleaned for us when we got home. I was so happy she was able to spend some time with me in the hospital and help us welcome Rosalie back home.

Other notable events of the year:

We celebrated Father’s Day with a date weekend downtown Minneapolis.

Seton turned 2 and developed a love of cupcakes and the color purple.

We were able to be in on the Dan’s proposal to my sister, Lyssa.

And Rex and Natalie got engaged and married (read: I have an amazing new sister!)

November is the month we are supposed to give thanks–but I have to say there is not a night that goes by that I don’t thank God for this life I have.

Davey proposed on March 9, 2013 in a chapel of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Carmel, IN after mass. Some of my closest friends were in town from Washington DC, Atlanta, GA, Chapel Hill, NC, and Athens, GA; they were there and all surprised as well when Davey got down on one knee. It was awesome to share that moment with all of them.

Of course, if Davey was going to marry me, he had to propose to all the girls (he knew what he was getting into):

I am not the event-planner-type. I hate to-do lists. I hate decisions. I hate looking at color samples. (side note: I also hate waking up in the morning) So planning for a wedding was a little frightening at first. But Davey and I constantly reminded ourselves that we weren’t planning a wedding; we were planning for a marriage.

In that respect, being engaged was SO FUN. We loved our pre-cana retreat. We loved talking about our futures together. We loved reading Karol Wojtyla’s Love and Responsibility. We loved thinking about the Sacrament we were entering into.

With our focus on planning a marriage, wedding planning seemed easy-peasy (for the most part). A lot of decisions we just made on a limb. For example, we never met our cake-baker or did a taste testing. We never met the singer for our wedding ceremony. The first time I heard her voice was during our mass (she was from another church).

We focused on the things that were important to us. I think one of the first things we did was choose the mass readings and songs. We wanted to the ceremony to be prayerful.

After that, making sure our guests would be able to feel how grateful we were for them supporting us was a priority. We made personalized favors by writing their names on coffee mugs and firing them in the oven. It’s been so fun getting text message pictures of my friends on snow days sipping hot cocoa, coffee, and hot toddy’s.

Photo by Honey and SaltPhoto by Honey and Salt

We also wanted to capture the day in a beautiful way so that we could show our future generations how it all started. This involved finding a good photographer and a good videographer. Mission totally accomplished in that department.

And honestly, that was really all for the “important things.”

By the way, our cake turned out AWESOME. And the wedding ceremony singer–loved her.

I learned a lot during the engagement period. First of all, through a lot of prayer, I learned how to surrender my life to someone else. Marriage requires selflessness, and I prayed for it in preparation. My grandma told me that if I always focus on Davey’s happiness, then I will in turn always be happy. It has not been the easiest thing in the world to dedicate my life to someone else’s happiness–but my grandma was right. I feel the most joyous when Davey is happy. I learned how to let go of what I want, and focus on what Davey wants. I am lucky enough to have a husband who tries to make me happy as well. This is something I know we both work hard on everyday.

My bridal shower

Second, I learned that when we are not focused on our faith, the worldly things become overbearingly important. The days I found myself stressing out about the color of the bridesmaid dresses or the fact that Macy’s could not for-the-life-of-them send us the right ties that we ordered for the groomsmen…well, those were the times I was losing focus on what the wedding was representing and what marriage was about. This lesson also comes up in day to day things as well. I find myself stressing about what we should make for dinner, why my car won’t start, how we should decorate our new house, etc, etc. It’s so easy to lose focus of the “point of it all”, and admittedly I sometimes use worldly distractions if I am not doing a good job of focusing on Davey’s happiness. I am thankful to have learned how to recognize this when we were engaged.

Lastly, I learned that love is an opportunity. To fall in love is happenstance. But to choose to love someone for the rest of his/her life is to take a risky opportunity to participate in the essence of the world’s joy. I am grateful everyday to have been blessed with the courage to take this amazing opportunity.